Tatsuya observed the battle between the vampire and the masked magician from the shadows of the trees.
He had arrived at the park three minutes before the engagement began. When he confirmed that his prediction of the intercept point was spot-on, he had momentarily relaxed his lips into a smirk, but now he held his breath, suppressed his presence, and waited for the moment to intervene.
(...It's a coincidence, right?)
According to Mayumi, there were multiple vampires and multiple hunters pursuing them. Yet, the ones fighting before his eyes were undoubtedly the same two from yesterday. All he had done was observe the movement of the groups and predict where the first clash would occur.
(If this is fate, I hate it...)
Tatsuya was already convinced that the masked magician was Lina. If something like "fate" existed between them, Tatsuya grumbled internally that he would have preferred it take a slightly different form. However, Tatsuya was not one to be shaken by such thoughts.
He took another look at the battle. The masked magician was clearly pressing the advantage. The white-hooded figure, presumably the vampire, was looking for a chance to flee. And the encirclement blocking that escape route was still incomplete.
(Four people. As expected, too few.)
With three factions—or four, if one included the police, who were not cooperating with the Saegusa—checking each other in the field, four magicians were closing in from four directions. Considering they were playing an "away game" where they couldn't use the city's surveillance equipment, gathering four operatives without alerting the other factions was impressive. However, in a city that expanded vertically as well as horizontally, one had to admit they lacked the hands to crush every escape route.
(The enemy of my enemy is, in the end, just a stranger. Just because they fight my enemy doesn't make them an ally. Now then, how will they play this?)
Anticipating several possible reactions from the mask, Tatsuya drew a gun—not a CAD—from behind his waist. It was, of course, illegal possession, but Tatsuya was hardly going to worry about such things now. Aiming at the vampire, who had just leaped high to avoid a knife, Tatsuya pointed the gun with complete naturalness, aimed roughly for the abdomen, and pulled the trigger without hesitation.
Tatsuya did not practice with firearms on a daily basis, but his lack of fine aiming proved effective; the bullet struck the vampire in the stomach, knocking him backward.
Without waiting to confirm the result, Tatsuya shifted his gaze to a different direction. Simultaneously, the masked magician turned her face toward Tatsuya. She looked at him with golden eyes harboring a fierce light that seemed ready to pierce him through. There lay an unmistakable killing intent.
She discarded her knife at the exact moment Tatsuya let go of his gun.
Her hand went to her waist; Tatsuya's hand reached into his jacket. Tatsuya finished drawing first, but his finger, poised on the trigger of his CAD, stopped halfway.
(Fast.)
Seeing the automatic pistol in his opponent's hand, with a magic sequence already formed around it, Tatsuya switched his activation sequence from Information Decomposition to Material Decomposition. His target was the chamber of the gun the masked magician was gripping. Specifically, the bullet that would be fired from it.
(Goodbye, Tatsuya.)
At the same moment the masked magician pulled the trigger, Tatsuya pulled the trigger of his CAD.
The masked magician, having fired a bullet reinforced with information, was convinced it would shoot through Tatsuya. However, in the middle of its flight, the bullet—whose attribute data, including speed, had been reinforced in an instant—was decomposed into dust.
(That incomprehensible magic again!)
The moment the masked magician exposed a fatal opening in front of Tatsuya, the magic he had failed to release initially now targeted her squarely.
It was an information body describing the "color," "shape," "sound," "heat," and "position" reflected in Tatsuya's vision. He did not aim at the opponent's physical body, but at the camouflage magic itself. He fired his counter-magic: Gram Demolition.
Through the magic that decomposed magic sequences themselves, the hollow exterior that resembled a costume was stripped away and scattered.
In the next instant, the monster was reborn as an angel.
Inside the electric four-wheeled vehicle gliding across the metropolitan highway, neither sound nor vibration penetrated the cabin; the scenery outside looked almost like a hologram. In the back seat of that quiet cabin, Miyuki spoke to Yakumo, who was sitting next to her.
"...Master."
"Hmm? What is it?"
"Why are you... lending us your strength this time? If I recall correctly, you made a vow not to involve yourself in the secular world."
"There are a few circumstances this time around. I may have left home and cast aside the shackles of the mundane world, but I did not cast aside the skills of the Shinobi. It's not just my problem, you see. There are things like duty and responsibility as one who inherited these techniques... Calling it the height of worldly affairs might be accurate, but even Buddhism cannot remain entirely unrelated to authority and tradition, so I suppose it falls within the acceptable range?"
"I see..."
Even asking a fifteen-year-old girl, there was no way she could answer that. Miyuki gave a vague nod. The disciple of Yakumo in the driver's seat seemed to accept this reaction as natural.
"Actually, the information Tatsuya-kun passed to Kazama-kun found its way to me. I heard there is a possibility the enemy is using Kudou's 'Parade.' If that is true, I have to drive a nail in. On behalf of my predecessor, who taught the technique 'Cloak'—the origin of Parade—to Kudou. It's a truly troublesome matter."
His final grumbling did not reach Miyuki's ears.
"The prototype of the Kudou family's secret technique 'Parade' was taught by... your master?"
"Oh? Did you not know? The purpose of the establishment of the No. 9 Research Laboratory was the development of magicians who could implement rationalized, re-systematized Ancient Magic as Modern Magic. For that purpose, many practitioners of Ancient Arts were gathered at the 9th Lab. My predecessor was among them."
"...Then, could it be that your surname is..."
Miyuki's eyes widened in shock, and she asked the question with a pale face. Yakumo must have immediately understood what she suspected. He waved his hand with a wry smile.
"No, no, you are overthinking it. The surname 'Kokonoe' is simply one I inherited from my predecessor."
The air in the car softened slightly. However, the temperature, having risen once, was about to plummet rapidly.
"Well, through that sequence of events, Kudou modified the 'Cloak' taught by my predecessor to create the 'Parade' magic sequence. Within it lie secret traditions that, for us, were never meant to leave our sect. Therefore, if the magician fighting Tatsuya-kun is using 'Parade,' I must warn them to prevent it from spreading any further. And if they will not listen to what I say... regrettably, well..."
Yakumo's tone and expression remained as aloof and elusive as ever, but Miyuki felt a chill run down her spine. It was not just Miyuki's hallucination; the shoulders of the disciple gripping the steering wheel had stiffened as well.
(Author's Note)
Yakumo is scary when angry, after all...
He's not just a perverted monk.
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